The Welsh Air Service was the world's first regular passenger helicopter

Helicopter

A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

 service. The service was started on 2 October 1950 by British European Airways

British European Airways

British European Airways or British European Airways Corporation was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. The airline operated European and North African routes from airports around the United Kingdom...

 and operated between Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, Wrexham

Wrexham

Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...

 and Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

.

Flying from the original Cardiff airport

RAF Pengam Moors

RAF Pengam Moors was a Royal Air Force station and maintenance unit , located on the Pengam Moors area of Tremorfa, 2 miles south east of Cardiff city centre in Wales from June 1938 to January 1946....

, on the shores of Pengam Moor near Splott

Splott

Splott is a district in the south of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, just east of the city centre. It was built up in the late 19th century on the land of two farms of the same name: Upper Splott and Lower Splott Farms. Splott is characterised by its once vast steelworks and rows of tightly...

 the Sikorsky S51

Sikorsky H-5

The Sikorsky H-5, is a helicopter built by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, formerly used by the United States Air Force, and its predecessor, the United States Army Air Forces, as well as the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard The Sikorsky H-5, (aka R-5, S-51, HO3S-1, or Horse) (R-5...

helicopters called at Plas Coch in Wrexham and reached Speke airport

Liverpool John Lennon Airport

Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport serving the city of Liverpool and the North West of England. Formerly known as Speke Airport, RAF Speke, and Liverpool Airport the airport is located within the City of Liverpool adjacent to the estuary of the River Mersey some southeast...

 in Liverpool within two hours.

The service operated from Monday to Friday and carried up to six passengers. However, passenger numbers were too low to make the service economic and it was terminated in 1951.

Timetable

South-North		North-South
Cardiff (Pengam)	09:15	Liverpool (Speke)	13:45
Wrexham (Plas Coch)	10:45	Wrexham (Plas Coch)	14:10
Wrexham (Plas Coch)	10:50	Wrexham (Plas Coch)	14:15
Liverpool (Speke)	11:15	Cardiff (Pengam)	14:45

Fares

Route	Single	Return
Cardiff - Wrexham	£3	£5
Cardiff - Liverpool	£3 10s	£5 10s
Wrexham - Liverpool	15s	£1

Sources

• Welsh Air Service Timetable 1950
• History of Cambrian Airways, T. G. Staddon, 197